It's a busy day of M&A, with two takeovers dominating the City news agenda. First up, sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance has announced a £1.3billion all-share acquisition of its troubled rival Provident. Meanwhile, Canadian firm Saputo has made a swoop for London-listed Dairy Crest - the firm behind Cathedral City cheese and Clover. Board members are unanimously recommending Saputo's £975million bid.

Although the energy giant reported a 12 per cent rise in profits for 2018, it said the energy price cap introduced by regulators will dent its fortunes in 2019, piling pressure on chief exec Iain Conn.

THE INVESTING SHOW

The property market is one of Britain's great soap operas, with plenty of twists and turns and heroes and villains along the way. At the moment there is a cliffhanger: will house prices start falling? In this Investing Show special, Andrew Montlake of mortgage broker Coreco, joins us to discuss what's going on in the UK's property and buy-to-let markets.

MARKETS COMMENT & ANALYSIS

Lloyds’ small army of shareholders – including yours truly – got some good news yesterday with a hefty bump to the dividend and share buyback. It’s tempting to give yourself a pat on the back and say ‘job well done’, but owning Lloyds shares long-term has provided as many lessons in the pitfalls of investing as it has the successes.

The yellow metal had a bit of the shine taken off it by the historic equities bull run seen since the financial crisis of 2008, but with stock markets decidedly choppy more recently gold has seen a bit of a polish. Geopolitical tensions are bubbling higher from the US trade dispute with China to continued tensions in the Middle East and of course populist trouble brewing in the Eurozone.

What a boost for Britain. Citigroup, one of the world's biggest banks, is close to buying its skyscraper in Canary Wharf for around £1.2 billion. It's a blockbuster of an investment, one of the biggest real estate transactions ever in the UK, and a symbolic vote of confidence in the future of London as one of the world's great financial centres.

Humbled by the financial crisis, bailed out by taxpayers and weighed down by PPI, our High Street lenders have been unpopular for the best part of a decade now. But - as their financial reporting season begins, with Royal Bank of Scotland announcing annual results yesterday and its major rivals due to follow suit next week - some onlookers believe it is time for a rethink. They certainly look like they could be a bargain. Most have endured precipitous share price falls since the start of 2008, before the crisis reached its nadir, with RBS down 94 per cent, Lloyds 82 per cent, Barclays 67 per cent.

The closure of Honda's car plant at Swindon is a tragedy for the 3,500 people employed there as well as a massive blow to the thousands of workers involved in the supply chains. It's a tragedy on a human level because of the devastating impact that losing a job has on the psyche and because of the long-term harm that this has on families and communities.

The trouble, sadly, is that it often takes a hefty clobbering for companies to start behaving in a more ethically responsible manner. Take Amazon, for instance. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, is the richest person in the world. But how much US Federal tax did his company pay last year? The answer is zero. I'm sure there is nothing illegal here; they are too smart for that. But there are costs to giving the impression that you play dirty. There are a host of examples.

Inflation has slipped to 1.8%, while the Bank of England has downgraded growth and indicated interest rate hikes are on hold. But at the same time, wages are rising by more than inflation and unemployment remains low. So has the clock already started ticking on a slowdown in the UK economy, or is this just some pre-Brexit jitters that could eventually be followed by a bounce? We look at what next.

It is a deal which would touch every household in Britain and the behemoth created would leap above Tesco to become the biggest grocer in Britain. Sainsbury's-Asda have made a compelling case for the deal based around the radical changes taken place in food retailing. The widespread assumption is the CMA may well give the deal a tentative green light. The final outcome won't be known until April when everyone has had a chance to have their say again.